Invited to a Celebrity's Investment Group? A Request to Pay Into a Personal Bank Account Means It's a Scam (Japan Alerts, Sept 1)

If a social media ad or an account using a celebrity's name invites you to an "investment group" and then gives you a personal person's bank account to send money to, it is a scam at that moment. Japan's National Consumer Affairs Center published cases of this pattern on September 1 and urged caution. If you stop before you transfer, you lose nothing.

The National Police Agency's provisional figures through the end of August 2026, released on October 2, show 7,097 cases of social-media investment fraud and ¥93.74 billion (937.4 oku yen) in losses. Compared with the same period a year earlier, cases are up 2,347 (49.4%) and losses are up ¥32.8 billion (53.8%). Both the number of cases and the losses keep growing sharply.

How to read this article: the figures are provisional and may change. The cases are summaries of the Center's published material, with nothing that identifies an individual. This is Japanese data: the phone numbers at the end (188 and #9110) are Japanese services. If you are outside Japan, contact your own country's consumer agency or police.

Three cases published by the Center

• ▸A man in his 50s (received August 2025): after chatting with an account using a celebrity's name on social media, he joined an investment course run by the celebrity's "assistant", who was said to work for a financial instruments business operator. For "unlisted stock trading" he sent about ¥10 million in total to an account in the assistant's name. When he asked to withdraw, he was told to pay a fee of about ¥11 million. He did not pay, but the ¥10 million was not returned. He later found a fraud warning on the financial firm's official site
• ▸A woman in her 50s (received August 2025): she learned of an investment group run by a celebrity from a video-site ad and joined a messaging group of over 80 members. After buying about ¥100,000 of cryptocurrency on an overseas exchange, she sent about ¥10 million in several transfers to different individuals' accounts. Her balance looked like about ¥20 million, but when she tried to withdraw she was told ¥5 million was needed for taxes and similar costs. She realized it was a scam after talking to her family
• ▸A man in his 60s (received February 2026): a social media ad featuring a well-known businessman led him to an investment group. He bought two stocks at ¥500,000 each, sending the money to individual-named accounts, and withdrew a profit of about ¥300,000. Then, pressed to do after-hours trading, he sent about ¥4 million, after which the trader and the assistant stopped responding

The steps, one by one

• ▸1. The way in: social media ads, video-site ads, accounts using a celebrity's name. The Center says some accounts and ads post celebrities' images without permission to win people's trust
• ▸2. Making you feel safe: a messaging group of over 80 people, a course run by an "assistant". It can look as if many people are involved, but the Center's cases do not show what is really behind it
• ▸3. Getting you to pay: the destination is an account in a person's name. The Center states that in genuine stock or FX trading, you do not send investment money to an individual's personal account. An early small amount can sometimes be withdrawn; in the man-in-his-60s case, about ¥300,000 of profit came out, and then about ¥4 million was sent
• ▸4. Keeping you from leaving: when you try to withdraw, more money is demanded as a fee or tax. In the cases it was about ¥11 million and ¥5 million. Even if you pay, there is no guarantee you can withdraw

Why "I won't fall for it" is risky: the amounts are large

Dividing the end-of-August losses (¥93.74 billion) by the number of recorded cases (7,097) gives about ¥13.2 million per case (our calculation; the police do not state an average). The three cases above range from about ¥4 million to about ¥10 million. The pattern is visible in the numbers too: start small, show a profit, then get the big transfer.

The place you contact to ask "is this a scam?" can itself be fake. Look up the number yourself and call it. Do not use a number given in a message or a contact introduced inside the group.

What you can do today

• ✓★If someone invites you to invest through social media, doubt it first. Check the celebrity's official site or account for a notice about impersonation (National Consumer Affairs Center)
• ✓Check on Japan's Financial Services Agency site whether the business is registered. You can see whether it is registered under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act or the Payment Services Act, or is an unregistered operator that has received a warning (the Center)
• ✓★If the destination account is in an individual's name, do not send money. Even for a company account, stop once if the other side is rushing you
• ✓Do not pay a "fee or tax first" in order to withdraw. Paying does not get you your money out; more demands follow
• ✓Do not put money into something you do not understand. The Center says amounts tend to grow, and once contact is lost, recovering the loss is difficult
• ✓Be wary of anyone offering to get your money back. The Center also warns about this kind of secondary scam
• ✓Do not carry it alone. Show the screen to family or a friend. If unsure, call 188 or #9110 (Japan)

Three lines to send to your family

• ✓Doubt any investment a celebrity seems to recommend on social media or in ads. The National Police Agency's end-of-August figure for social-media investment fraud is 7,097 cases and ¥93.74 billion (provisional)
• ✓★If the destination account is in an individual's name, stop there. Do not pay a "fee or tax first" either
• ✓If unsure, call: Consumer Hotline 188 / Police advice line #9110 (Japan)

If you have already sent money

• ▸Do not send any more. Paying a fee or tax will not let you withdraw
• ▸Contact the police and the financial institution that received the money. Japan's Financial Services Agency advises victims of transfer fraud to contact both. Save the transfer record (date, account, amount) and screenshots of the conversation
• ▸Where to call: #9110 or the nearest police station (110 in an emergency); for the consumer center, 188
• ▸Do not trust anyone who approaches you offering to recover the money. The Center warns about this as a secondary scam

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